Space Planning Help please

[handbagsandholidays]

Hello,

We are first time renovators and having lived in a ground floor flat with 2 bedrooms and a kitchen/diner for the last 15 years, we are finally moving and about to undertake an extension/renovation project on the property to
make it our forever home. For context, we are a family of 4 with a toddler and a teen. My teenager would like the loft bedroom even though it is the smallest. Please can you help us with suggestions as to how we can amend this floorplan to maximise the space available to us? My husbands friend seems to think there is a lot of dead space and costly bits of work that won’t actually add masses of extra functionality e.g corridor leading to the garage. I’m not sure about this as it sounds like a useful thing to have! Also, the current staircase does not face the entrance door but we are considering reversing it so that it does as we feel it will open up the hallway. Doing this would impact the landing upstairs but perhaps the entrance to bedroom 4 could be move?! I’m not sure how costly changing a curved staircase would be either and simply voicing potential thoughts I’ve had along the way! If anybody can help with ballpark figures for curved staircases, I’d also be very thankful! We are not set with having the rooms that are currently labelled. The architect simply filled in labels with things he thought would be useful but we’re not particularly bothered about having a separate study or playroom. However we would like the following:
• a garage
•utility
•at least one downstairs WC
• pantry
•open plan kitchen/diner

Thank you in advance!

Floor plans now attached 😊

It looks like a huge, grand project.
My thoughts are - do you really need a sun room, playroom, lounge, office, 5 bedrooms, several balconies and bathrooms? Because it looks like a massive amount of work and a lot of space for 4 people.
I mean, if your budget allows and you want it, go for it, but it all feels a bit 'grand designs' where the architect has got over excited and shoved every possible addition going. You're just missing a gym and private cinema!
I'm a minimalist at heart, so feel free to ignore.

For curved stairs inspiration look here...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGXhRKbuz2j/?igsh=aW4zaWJ6cTN0ZHVs

The truth is, we never wanted the balconies but the house already has 2 so as part of the planning permission issues, we had to replicate it on the other side. The architect stuck another balcony on it elsewhere but thankfully we were able to get rid of that!

Would it help if I post the current floor plans? The current upstairs is much smaller than the downstairs which is why we are extending the bottom and we have a flat roof in places that’s has to be retained.

Thank you for the instagram link. It was really helpful as our house has a tall stained glass window similar to the one in the video so it really helped with visualisation.

Yes, why not share the original plan?

I dont think there's lots of wasted space, but i do think the layout is messy. As I've already said, I'm not a fan of so many ensuite etc, but if that's what you want fair enough.

Room 1 - where will the bed go? There seems to be lots of windows.

Room 4 - doesnt feel like a great space.

I dont really like the attic stairs as they're not in line with the other stairs. Can this be addressed?

Do you need a 'family' bathroom with all the others? I think the right hand side of the upstairs needs looking at, it feels a bit hotchpotch.

Sorry! I feel like I'm being a bit negative.

No it’s not negativity- I'm really thankful for the opinion as we are genuinely very stuck and clueless with it all! It feels overwhelming. we don’t need a family bathroom and unfortunately the architect mis-labelled it as J&J bathroom but that part was no longer a bathroom. It was just going to be part of bedroom 4 which has its own en-suite. If there is a way to house a family bathroom and have fewer rooms with en-suites, I would be open to that as it would also save building costs. I don’t know if it’s better to have each room with individual en-suites or to drop them for a house bathroom instead. If I had to choose which rooms had en suites, it would be bedrooms 1 and 3 as they are the largest and bedroom 5 as it’s on a separate floor. The issue with the stairs to the loft is that we were told that is the point at where the roof has the highest point and so where the stairs should go. Ideally I would have loved to continue the curved staircase further and in to the loft but I don’t think that’s possible.

Do you feel the architect really listened to what you wanted and your brief? If not then maybe they are not the right architect for you. As you seem to not want all the rooms they have created. Or maybe you hadn’t really narrowed down your brief, hence the plans not working for you.

My brief was modern country cottage, bigger utility, more bathrooms, a kitchen where I don’t to have a light on after 10am everyday and natural light in my hall. Also a living room that wasn’t the 7th circle of hell in June, July and August, but was cozy in winter. Lack of 7th circle of hell and cozy in winter - ended up with a living area in the kitchen dinner and a separate snug. Whilst we hadn’t imagined this we quickly realised it was what was needed.
I would maybe sit down and work out what are the problems that need fixing and how do you want to live. Do you want to be able shut the toys away at night?

I actually prefer the original plan! It feels far less cluttered, there are 4 bedrooms, so plenty of rooms for your family. I would probably look at swapping the kitchen and dining, the kitchen feels a bit of a mish mash due to the shape. But I actually think you're planning loads of work and potentially messing what seems to be a nice art deco (I'm guessing) home.

@NeedanadultgapyearThe architect definitely didn’t listen to us at all! He also was not very creative with the design but that’s another can of worms all together. We just want a cosy home with flexible living spaces as we are a small nuclear family but have an extended family who live further away and would stay over when visiting. At the moment, we usually go to them rather than them to us as we don’t have the space to host them. There is also the possibility of one set of parents living with us in the future and if not living with us full-time then at least on a part-time basis for monthly periods. I don’t think our current architect is the one for us but we are left with the conundrum of spending an eye watering sum on a new architect or trying to work with the internal space we have to make the space work better for us. Our youngest will have a good sized bedroom so I suspect the bulk of his toys will be upstairs and that there will be less downstairs. Also as he gets older, there will be fewer toys that are left out so I don’t mind not being able to shut the toys away as with enough storage, they can be put away each day.

@Seaside3

The current space downstairs could be worked with but we would like more space upstairs. One of the rooms out of the 4 we currently have is a box room, one has an odd shaped slanted ceiling, the other is a very small double and then there is one good sized room. As we would like to host guests overnight her regularly (at least once a month), we would like to have good sized guest rooms so the kids don’t have to move out of their bedrooms when we have guests. I have also always wanted a walk in wardrobe as my weakness is handbags and shoes 😬 My eldest really wanted the loft space as a place to hide away when he wants to as there is a big age gap between my 2 children. That is why we decided to convert the loft. You’re right- it is an art deco home and we want to stay true to that too!

Ok, so, what if you use bed 2 as main bedroom, with the ensuite and bed 4 as your dressing room? You could knock them together, put the bathroom door from the bedroom where the current linen store is.
Then, put the stairs to the attic above current stairs (you would have walk round the stairwell) , put a bend in the stairs if you need them to come out more in the middle of the room for head height. That leaves bed 1 for youngest child and bed 3 for parents.
You could even consider making the lobby, sun room and office into a downstairs 'granny flat' going forward, with own entrance.

@handbagsandholidaysyou need to tell your architect this is not what you asked for and push back what your brief was and what you don’t like about this plan.
My architect had a rough pencil drawing that she showed as before we committed any money -did you have anything like this?

When we extended and remodelled we were between using an architect who was quoting an astounding amount of money and a design team called Home Tales who cost far less. We felt like the design team was a better option for us, we wanted a practical family home and already had a lot of ideas, they were great at working with us and understanding we weren't on an episode of grand designs!